Sega's got some really good stuff this gen. I am really wanting to play Blood will tell(Dororo). Has anybody played this that can give a review? I know it got fairly low rankings because I checked gamerankings but it still looks like a fun game.

I remember standing in Lionel Playworld (or was it Children's Palace?) holding both Phantasy Star and Thunder Blade in my hands, and I was trying to decide on which one I wanted to purchase. It was a very hard decision for me! Thank *insert favorite diety here* I decided on Phantasy Star and I have never ever regretted that. I still wake up in a cold sweat when I think about how I almost chose Thunder Blade instead, oh the ghastly Thunder Blade. Sega unleashed one of the first true role playing videogames on a home console. Sure, there was Final Fantasy (I think), Ultima, Dragon Warrior, and Miracle Warriors before it, but they all sucked huge amounts of ass, especially when compared to Sega's new gem. The game was also bigger than any of the aforementioned games, weighing in at 4 megabits plus battery. This enabled the graphics and sounds to be great, which was a first for this type of game. The games on the NES weighed in at no more than 1 meg at the time, and the majority of the memory went to the text and left very little room for decent graphics. But Sega wanted to give people the full experience, and at $70 they sure did.

The 3D dungeons are AMAZING,
especially for an 8-bit system!

Huh? What? I'm just looking
for the Governor. I no understand.

Story: 8/10
For me, this was the first game I had ever played that actually revolved around a story. Sure, games like Space Harrier would have a back story, but it mattered not when you played the game. With Phantasy Star, the story very much matters. You are on a quest to avenge your dead brother who got too close to Lassic, who is the main "mean person" in this game. Revenge is always a good thing and I wholeheartedly recommend it whenever possible, be it in games or in real life. Along the way you'll meet more characters and discover some cool things, like vehicles. You may even find that Lassic is not the root of all the evil in the world(s). Your journey takes you back and forth between 3 large planets, and exploration is key. But what's the deal with Myau, the cat you find, and Odin, a chiseled stone dude, and Noah, an effective magician? Why would they help YOU avenge your wimpy-ass brother?

The battle graphics are intense.
That's what I wanted to be for Halloween!

The near painting quality graphics may distract
you from Fishman's highly erotic tonguework!

Graphics: 10/10
Graphics simply do not get any better for the Sega Master System... or any other 8-bit system for that matter (not counting the TurboGrafx). Many RPGs even to this day portray the characters and enemies in the mega-lame "super-deformed" mode. Not here. Sega knows that super-deformed artwork is ultra-retarded and does not lend itself into being taken seriously, so instead they used GOOD artwork for the characters and enemies, which is a novel concept! The enemies are rife with detail, and the animation is exquisite. Many enemies have multiple animated attacks. The backgrounds during the battle scenes also change depending on where you are at the time (unlike Phantasy Star 2's boring blue grid for EVERY single battle). The detail is absolutely superb. There are even a few animated details in some of the backgrounds. The overhead map looks good as well, and is quite colorful. Then there are the dungeons. The dungeons are all first person and full screen, and the animation is phenomenal even when turning corners or approaching walls. There is no choppiness in the scaling and no slowdown at all. This is an 8-bit system? I never even saw this effect done properly on a 16-bit system. Well Shining in the Darkness on the Genesis kind of tried it, but it was not full screen like this is and it was mega-choppy. It wasn't until the Saturn's "Shining the Holy Ark" would we get something that surpassed this effect. The Sega Master System truly was a marvel in the right hands, and this game featured the best graphics, by far, in the entire 8-bit generation, bar none.

There are even a few cut-scenes.
Myau tells it like it is.

Sound: 9/10
Not too much in the way of sound effects here, with your standard 8-bit slashes, clicks, bells, etc. There aren't any digitized sounds. The music on the other hand is superb, and remains classic to this day. It really helped me get into the Phantasy Star world. Composed by Tokuhiko Uwabo, or "Bo" for short, the music envelops you into the solem yet hopeful world of the characters. The music on the overhead map on planet Motabia (or "Motavia" in the US) is especially excellent. Tokuhiko Uwabo was also responsible for Zillion 1 and 2, Phantasy Star 2, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, the SMS port of Space Harrier, Space Harrier II, among other games. If you played this game in Japan, you could also listen to the game in "FM" mode, which was an "enhanced" sound chip for the Japanese Sega Master System. To be honest, it sounds like a Genesis that's been strangled. The typical PSG sound that we heard in the US sounds MUCH better. You can still experience the FM sounds either on an emulator or in the Saturn's Phantasy Star Collection. Again, I recommend the normal PSG sounds.

I don't understand why "No"
is even an option. Now maybe if
she was asking about Square...

Myau takes a beating from 3 Crawlers.

Gameplay: 9/10
Pretty typical for most RPG's, but certainly cutting-edge back in the day. Run around, battle monsters to gain experience and money. Level up and buy better weapons. Search dungeons for special items and people. Battle bosses and save the world. Just about everything is done through a text menu, and the screen can fill up with tons of menus. It never gets confusing, though. The game lets you save at ANY TIME YOU WANT, which is absolutely awesome. The only time you can't save is during battles. Learning new magic spells and trying them out is always a blast, and mapping the dungeons can be tedious, but still fun. You can collect up to four people in your party and you never swap them with other party members like in other RPGs (like Phantasy Star 2). Once they are in your party, they are in it for the duration. I really like that because once you get used to a character, you don't want them going away, and you don't have to worry about leveling up a whole bunch of other morons who aren't currently traveling with you. The Japanese to English translation is hilarious, with plenty of typos to amuse you for hours, like "First Food Shop" instead of the obvious "Fast Food Shop". I wish the translation could have been better, but it does not ruin the gameplay in any way. The game took me a long while to beat it when I first went through it. You must remember that this game was released back when there were no internet FAQs, no game magazines (that's right, this came out way before EGM started up), no friends to ask for advice because they all had Nintendo, and really no way to get through the game except to figure it out on your own. Well, I suppose you could call 1-800-USA-SEGA and talk to Sega's game counselors for free. I think I did that once when I got stuck (couldn't find that damned Learma Tree). Fortunately there are 5 save slots so you can use an alternative slot just in case you get stuck, and it really helps when mapping out the dungeons. Some people say there is a bug in this game where you can get permanently stuck in Lassic's floating castle. You have to feed Myau a nut to get to the floating castle in the first place, and they say if Alis has used all of her magic and you don't have a Transfer, you are stuck there forever and ever. NOT TRUE! Just feed Myau the nut again and he flies right back to Palma. The people who say you can get stuck have probably failed at life. I don't know how long the game is because there isn't a clock provided, but I'd say it is around 30 hours, maybe more, doing it all on your own figuring everything out as you go. Again, that's a rough guess. It'd be probably 5 or 10 hours longer if you want to try to level every character up to Level 30 (the max) before you fight Lassic. Absolutely amazing game, and remains fond in my memories even after all these years!

You even have to deal with
the homeless in this game!

An eyeball with wings...
How does it... you know?

Wrap up:
One of the absolute best games of the 8-bit generation, and in my opinion the best Phantasy Star game aside from part IV. Part 2 was a good game as well, but it just didn't have the cool graphics of part 1.

"Some people say there is a bug in this game where you can get permanently stuck in Lassic's floating castle. You have to feed Myau a nut to get to the floating castle in the first place, and they say if Alis has used all of her magic and you don't have a Transer, you are stuck there forever and ever. NOT TRUE! Just feed Myau the nut again and he flies right back to Palma. The people who say you can get stuck have probably failed at life."

Did he say that? I know I read it on the web quite recently. If he said that, he is a moron. I just tried escaping without using magic or a transer last night and it works fine. I don't think Sega would miss a bug like that.

In GameFan Volume 4 - Issue 5, there is a two-page PS review by Nick on p.90-91 in which he states that you can get eternally stuck in two dungeons. In the dungeon on Dezoris, he says that when you're told to go left, don't go unless you've got a flute or a transfer. And likewise, on Lassic's floating castle you should either bring a transfer or 8MP for Alis' "Fly" spell.

Well by the time you get to the dungeon on Dezoris, you have the Flute in your inventory which takes you out of any dungeon and doesn't use any magic points. If you missed the flute, then you're stuck and deserve to press Reset. As for Lassic's floating castle, you need neither magic nor a Transer to escape. Also it's "transer", not "transfer". Shows what Nix Rocks knows.

When they bring it here, it's supposed to have I, II & IV of the remakes (no III but who's complaining?). If the remakes don't ruin the games in any way, it should deserve a perfect rating. Three of the greatest RPGs ever made (better than FF in my opinion) but better? Woah.

I just started playing my new copy of FF Dawn of Souls, I'm going to review it, well I've already beat Gariland, and got the pirate ship, in just over half an hour. I'll have more in my review, I'll be reviewing FF Origins and comparing all three versions of the games in my review.

In Japan they are all released on their own disc. In the US all 3 of them are supposed to be combined onto one? Boy I sure hope they don't cut anything out of the Japanese versions. The intro to the aprt 1 remake looks awesome, and looks completely anime (though without actual animation). I hope they don't ruin the music as well. All 3 of those games have awesome music, especially parts 1 and 2 (different sound composer was used for IV).